Earth Rumble XII
by naggeluide
Summary: The Blind Bandit is back for Earth Rumble XII, six years after being blown out of the ring by the Avatar, and she's convinced her sparring BFF Fire Lord Zuko to join the tournament. Because only an idiot brings a knife to a rock fight.
1. Challenge Accepted

**Chapter 1: Challenge Accepted (Never Trust an Iguana-Parrot)**

**A/N:** Warning: language. Toph and Zuko are horrible potty-mouths.

* * *

"A little iguana-parrot with a skull faceplate told me you're due in Gaoling next month," Toph said without preamble, in her best conniving tone. "Guess what's _not_ boring and politic-y and happening while you're there! Here's a hint: it'll _rock_ your world."

Zuko sighed because the pun was _that_ bad, and almost wished that the guard at his office door wouldn't just let Toph barge in as she pleased. But otherwise they kept having to replace doors, and those things didn't come cheap. "Toph, I'm working."

"That's all you ever do these days!" Toph complained. "All I can feel is you signing a bunch of stupid papers. Get a stamp, genius. Here, I'll even make one for you." She grabbed a stone paperweight off his desk, changed its shape, and hurled it at the Fire Lord.

Zuko caught the object reflexively and blinked at the characters standing in relief from the stone. Well, at least Toph was getting better at writing; they were almost legible. Fire Lord Zuko The Worst, they proclaimed. Although she'd used the wrong character for his name.

"You're losing your touch," he commented, then topped that insult with: "Lady Not-So-Toph Bei Fong." Pun times with Sokka were really starting to pay off, and one bad pun deserved another.

"Writing big words is hard," Toph complained, not dignifying his attempted humor with a response. "Come on, Zuko, we never have fun anymore. I've hardly even _seen_ you since our field trip with Kuei, and that was _last year_! Come fight Earth Rumble Twelve with me. You know you want to!"

The use of his actual name caught Zuko by surprise more than anything else, as did the amount of time that had passed since that particular adventure. Toph must be really serious about this.

"I'm not an earthbender," he still protested.

"So use those swords of yours," Toph retorted. "You're crafty as shit and you dodge like a rabid monkey-weasel, that ought to get you past the first few rounds."

Zuko raised his eyebrow, though the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. "Would you really be happy just getting past a few weak-ass opponents, Toph?"

"Every opponent's ass is weak compared to mine. I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!"

Zuko didn't know whether to snicker or facepalm. Toph was eighteen now, she had to know how that sounded. To be completely fair though, the earthbender did indeed have a very strong ass, and pair of thighs to go with it that most athletes would envy.

"But I can see where you're coming from," Toph continued, and Zuko wished she would stop baiting the trap for him to take her analogies literally so she could crow a victorious, "I'm blind, you asshole!" at him. He wasn't Sokka. It wasn't going to happen.

"Like me, you naturally want to face off against the best. Now there's a storyline I could pitch to the producers and they'd eat it up like the slimy money-grubbing snake-swine they are. The swordsman fights his way up the ranks of the earthbenders, becoming a crowd favorite as he goes, until he's pitted against the very best! And just when it looks like he's going to get his fucking ass beat, he reveals himself as a firebender! And still gets his fucking ass beat, since Gaoling's still pretty sore over the war and a crowd of Earth Kingdom citizens would eat that shit up. Now there's a Rumble that might go down as the greatest of all time."

Zuko couldn't help but be drawn in to the drama. "That's basically the plot of _Elemental Deceptions_," he said, referring to a recently popular play, then stopped himself. What was he doing, he should be fucking working. "And anyway, I can't. I'm the Fire Lord. It's dishonorable to accept monetary compensation from other nations. Even by winning it honestly."

"Who said anything about winning, Oh-Great-And-Mighty Fire Lord? And no one needs to know who you are! Fighters wear costumes!"

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Who said anything about losing?" he countered.

Toph's grin was that of a tiger-shark who'd suddenly found herself in the middle of a school of cat-fish. "Oh, you're so on, motherfucker."

"Fine," Zuko sighed, hiding a small smile behind the hand pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew he gave in to Toph way too easily, but let it never be said he did so without a fight. Although it was more often a physical fight than a real trial of will. He wasn't sure about everything Toph had proposed, but the basic idea sounded way more fun than the meditation weekend Aang had tried to rope him into just the other day. Zuko had a sneaking suspicion that his mother must have felt that he still wasn't taking enough time off, and enlisted the help of his friends.

"As long as my costume isn't stupid," he hastily added before Toph could go too crazy.

Toph cackled. "Leave that to me."

"The fuck I will! You're colorblind."

"I was going to ask Ty Lee! Everyone reacts to her like she's got good fashion sense!"

Zuko sighed, wondering how Toph even defined fashion. Probably by fabric weight and texture. "Ty Lee is hot, Toph. That's why people react to her like that."

"She is not! Have you ever even been around yourself when you're angry? Now _that's_ hot!" Toph's stomping, arm-waving imitation was starting to crack the tiles on the floor.

Right. That was the wrong colloquialism to use for someone sensitive to differing body temperatures. Zuko rubbed at the beginnings of a headache and tried again. "Ty Lee is sexy. That's what I meant."

"Well, then she'll definitely know how to put together a good costume! Sexy sell more tickets."

Zuko buried his face in his hands. "I am _not_ fighting in an animal-skin loincloth and some stupid feathered carnival mask," he groaned, knowing Ty Lee's gaudy circus tastes all too well.

Toph almost fell over laughing. Zuko scowled at her, although after he tried picturing Sokka in the getup he'd just described he supposed he could see what she found amusing about the mental image. Anyway, it was not going to happen, both because he had _dignity_, and because he had to stay anonymous. "Besides, some people might recognize my scar."

"You'll be wearing a mask, idiot." Toph wiped tears of laughter from the corners of her milky eyes.

"Not _that_ scar," Zuko frowned. "My lightning scar."

"Why should that be strange? Don't a lot of people get hit by lightning?" Toph sounded genuinely curious.

"Not a lot of those people still walking around." Zuko supposed that when he was twelve, he would also have willingly dissociated _lightning_ and _kill shot_ in order to keep his sanity, especially if his friends kept winding up getting hit with the stuff.

"Oh. But not too many people know about that, right? You're pretty much always wearing a shirt in public."

Rolling his eyes would be useless, but he did it anyway. "I always wear a shirt in public. And pants. And lots of other stuff, too."

"So when they see you in a loincloth, no one's going to guess it's you! Anyway, haven't you worn the same outfit every day for like, the past six years now? Katara always describes you the same way when I ask."

"It's traditional. And there are three different sets of robes I get to pick between." Although he almost always picked the same ones since he hated tripping over his own clothing, and yeah he could kind of see her point now.

"Whatever. The point is, people are idiots and they've seen you look the exact same for the past six years, unless you're suddenly capable of growing facial hair, so the second you show a little skin no one is going to recognize you."

Zuko would have her know he'd been shaving since he was thirteen, thank you very much, and the fact that it had been his scalp didn't count, it was the same skill after all. "I don't have to show _any_ skin," he protested instead. If the Blue Spirit wasn't still a wanted criminal - and he had to do something about that eventually, or knowing his luck it would find some spectacular way to get thrown back in his face - he would have suggested that character for the Rumble.

"What did I just tell you?" Toph sounded fed up now. "Sexy sells tickets." Zuko cursed whoever had explained to her that less clothes equals stupider reactions from sighted people of the preferred sex.

The earthbender continued. "And Mai's not the only person who thinks you fit the bill, so I'm going to guess you could make me a bunch of money… to donate to Aang's Air Temple restoration fund." She crowed the last bit triumphantly, and damn it Toph knew just how to appeal to the leader of a nation who wanted to make reparations but also didn't want to bankrupt his own economy while doing so.

Even if his mind was still caught up on her mention of his ex, which caused an involuntary spike in his heartrate which Zuko was only slightly embarrassed to know that Toph had observed. "Mai said she thinks I'm sexy?" And his voice betrayed him now too, sounding ridiculously pleased, so he gave himself a mental slap in the face to get his thoughts back into their usual pessimistic outlook. "How long ago was this?"

"Last month. She's totally still into you," Toph … didn't sound like she was lying. And she knew that Zuko was still totally into Mai. "Although Katara told me your abs look like a washing board, which I think was supposed to be a good thing unless she just meant you have a bunch of soap stains on them, because she's totally still into Aang."

"I suppose the lightning scar could look like an allergic reaction to soap," Zuko mused, noting down that as a possible explanation for large patches of angry-looking red skin, and wondering why he hadn't just used that explanation for his face back when he was trying to hide out in the Earth Kingdom.

"That makes sense I guess, since Aang got hit by lightning too."

Zuko had learned to appreciate Toph's leaps of logic over the years, as good training to infer when someone was missing information or had a vastly different perspective, but they still made his brain whirl sometimes. Probably no one had ever told her that Aang had been hit on the back, or maybe she thought it would have scarred both sides of his torso. Zuko resolved to be more precise when describing things to her from now on, although he supposed that maybe Toph just didn't bother keeping track of information about appearances since it was useless to her.

"Just tell Ty Lee I want a shirt. And pants. Non-negotiable."

"You got it, Sparky!" Toph was cackling as she left - using the door, thank Agni for small favors - and Zuko was determined to figure out later what was so funny about _that_, even if he had to ambush the little shit the second she set foot on tatami and shout at her until the souls of her ancestors begged for mercy. He should have remembered that iguana-parrot sightings were usually followed by a world of pain.

* * *

**A/N:** According to the Avatar Wiki, there are several characters that can be used to write Zuko's name. The one Toph picks here is the less flattering one that roughly translates to "ancestors robber".

Curious about the field trip with Kuei? Where Toph self-inserts into a bonding experience between two research nerds and starts breaking all the walls, including the fourth one? Coming soon...j/k, eventually.


	2. Makeovers with Ty Lee

**Chapter 2: Makeovers with Ty Lee (Return of the Angry Jerk)**

"THIS" yelled Zuko, holding up the scrap of fabric, "Is NOT a fucking shirt!" As for the pants, they only just qualified by barely covering his knees.

"It is too a shirt!" Ty Lee's round eyes widened until Zuko was sure they would pop out of her head at any second.

"This is a Koh-damned fishing net!"

"It's fashionable," Ty Lee protested. "Here, you're probably just putting it on wrong."

After being manhandled into the sorry excuse for a garment, Zuko still stood by his original opinion. "There is no way I am going anywhere where people can see me looking like a dying frog-fish." He pulled the loose under-robe of his usual outfit over his head. "I'll just wear this."

Ty Lee squealed. "No, you can't! Toph promised them muscles. And besides, it's red! It's no fun if everybody can guess the big twist!"

"Well, people can look at Toph's muscles then. She's got more than enough to go around." And would just a hint of red really be a bad idea, if it was drama they wanted then a little bit of foreshadowing went a long way.

"Yes, but they've sold a lot of tickets to women, and a lot of them like looking at male muscles! Besides, red is your character's _highlight_ color, so you can't use it for the base. You can't wear that."

This from a woman whose signature color combination was pink and red. "Then get me one of Toph's shirts."

"She won't like it if you stretch it out."

Zuko's volume had dropped momentarily, but now it was back up to the maximum amount he thought he could get away with without being overheard. "She should have thought of that when she put you in charge of finding me something to wear. Which, who would have thought was so fucking difficult? Shirt. Pants. So spirits-damned easy."

Ty Lee flipped angrily up from her backbend and landed with her hands on her hips. "Sorry, Fire Lord No-Fashion-Sense! If you'd just quit being so self-conscious and fight without a shirt like everybody else, we wouldn't have this problem!"

"Fine!" Zuko yelled, matching Ty Lee's volume and then some. Maybe if someone heard him and outed him as the Fire Lord he'd be saved from this whole ridiculous situation. "If a bunch of farmers want to gossip about the aftereffects of my sister's attempt to _murder_ one of my friends, let them go fucking crazy. Agni, what's everybody around here got against wearing clothes?" He tugged off both his tunic and the offending excuse for a shirt, and lit the second piece on fire.

"Zuko!" Ty Lee scolded, but made no attempt to grab the burning fabric.

Zuko watched as the flames died out and the garment crumbled to ash. He sighed and slumped against the wall, running a hand through his hair. "I can't believe I even agreed to this lizard-bat shit insanity in the first place."

"Oh, just stop it already!" Ty Lee exclaimed. "You're allowed to have fun, you know. Don't even try arguing, your aura isn't too bright to look at for once, clearly at least a little part of you is looking forward to this. And even if you have to constantly hate the world, just try and remember that you're doing this for Toph."

Before Zuko could respond, the earthen wall he was leaning on suddenly grew a new door, and the Blind Bandit burst in. "What up, Rogue Ronin? Ready to wipe the arena floor with some lilly-livers in your Earth Rumble debut?"

Zuko's eyes closed against the inevitable headache he could feel building up behind his temples. "You do know that 'rogue' and 'ronin' are synonyms in the Fire Nation."

"What? In the Earth Kingdom, ronin are what we call the last survivors of their regiments."

Well, that didn't touch any nerves at all for the son and nephew of the two primary devastators of Earth Kingdom forces. "You asked Sokka to think up that stage name, didn't you."

"Gotta get the right people for the right job. Look how great Ty Lee's costumes turned out!"

Zuko looked up and nearly choked on the unkind evaluation of Ty Lee's fashion choices that was halfway out of his mouth. "Holy shit, Toph, put on some fucking clothes." He never thought that he would feel secondhand embarrassment for Toph of all people, but … here it was, and it was crippling.

The earthbender cackled and attempted to give Ty Lee a high five. The acrobat, who was currently upside down, tried to return it with her foot. "Nice job, Stretch! We're getting reactions."

"Toph," Zuko said seriously. "She's having you on. It looks like you rampaged through a belt shop and then went swimming in a pond of fucking … what even is the word for those metal things? Studs? Washers? And why do you have a necklace of _tiny human skulls_?" To say nothing of the two bigger, meaner ones in place of the usual floofballs on her headband.

"Because fuck yeah!" cried Toph. "So, sexy enough for you?"

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose again, trying very hard not to breathe out fire with his next exhale. "Toph - " he started, voice slightly strangled as he fought to find words to convey the magnitude of ridiculous and inappropriate that was her costume.

"If you're having trouble deciding, just picture Mai wearing it," Ty Lee chirped helpfully, and then Zuko legitimately choked on his own breath, which resulted in violent coughing and not a few flames, because _ow ow ow, hot hot hot_ and he was pretty sure his face was on fire just as much as his throat.

"Definitely sexy," Toph decided.

And yeah, the picture his brain had supplied him with was indeed a major turn on, but "I," Zuko ground out as soon as his throat stopped burning, "Am going to fucking. Call. Your. Parents. You little - "

"What the fuck, Zuko! I'm eighteen, _in case you haven't noticed!_" Toph burst out. "I'm eighteen and that means I'm a legal fucking adult, and I do what I want, what's more I'm an Earth Kingdom citizen so you don't get to tell me jack shit, Fire Lord!"

Zuko was taken aback by the ferocity in the high voice. Okay, so maybe mentioning her parents had crossed a line, but he hadn't meant to challenge her autonomy, just to put the fear of Koh into her to protect her from the kind of people he knew were out there.

"If you have issues about being comfortable in your own skin, don't take them out on me," Toph added, her voice grown small. "You know I don't care what other people think about me. Or my body. Fuck those haters. And I've _never_ been a little kid who needs your protection."

"Toph… " Zuko reached for her hand, offering the direct contact as proof of his earnestness. "I reacted poorly. And I know you don't need protection. But is it so wrong that I want to offer it anyway? Can I guard your back against things you might not notice?"

Toph's fingers twitched in his own, and she turned her face away. "Only if you _ask me_ first," she said finally, "and if you're not such a jerk about it. I don't need you acting like my dad, I've got one already and we're all good now. Stick with weird uncle, or obnoxious brother."

"I'm sorry, Toph," Zuko said, sincerely. "And it would be my highest honor to be your weird uncle." Agni knew having one of his own was the best thing that had ever happened to him. But Iroh had never set himself as a barrier between his nephew and the crueler side of the world, just offered explanation and cryptic guidance and endless cups of tea as he stumbled around making mistakes on his own. Spirits, Zuko was just now starting to realize how painful that must have been for his uncle to watch.

Toph sniffed, and damn it, had he really made her cry? He felt like such a jerk. "I'd like that," Toph said, and flung her arms around him. And yeah, that was more skin-to-skin contact than he'd ever thought would occur between him and the blind earthbender, but she was right and he did need to stop projecting his issues like that, because he needed to do better and if that meant holding tight to his friend who really needed a hug right now, it was the least he could do.

"Uh, Toph, I'm just going to warn you, as your adopted weird uncle, that sighted people would think this looks really inappropriate right now."

"Yeah. I can tell why you wear shirts all the time. You're weirdly warm and clammy did you know that?" Toph let go with a noise that sounded disturbingly like a giggle.

Zuko scowled. "I sweat a lot when I yell."

"Well then, stop that this instant!" a different voice broke in. "The makeup won't hold if we apply it while you're sweating!"

Both benders turned to Ty Lee as if they'd forgotten she was there. "Uh, what?" Zuko responded with his usual eloquence. "I thought we agreed on a mask?"

"Well, of course normally we would do a mask to get your skin looking nice and luminous, but since you'll want paint over the majority of your face I think we can skip that part." Ty Lee was now armed with an alarming number of brushes and containers.

Zuko turned to Toph. "Do you know what she's talking about?" he asked.

Toph shrugged. "I don't know, sounds something they would say in the spa before they poke you with things or cover you in goo. I like it when they use mud."

"Just sit down, Zuko," Ty Lee said in a tone that made it clear she felt her talents were going unappreciated. "You definitely won't want to wear a mask while you're fighting. I mean, wood breathes better than ceramic, but it's not cold enough that you won't be steaming up your own vision with your breath. Not to mention how unhygienic that would be! In the circus we always use just makeup for the most physically demanding performances. Maybe an eyemask if it's super important to the character, but the nose and the mouth should always be free."

It was hard to argue with that logic. His Blue Spirit mask had been pretty uncomfortable, and the deep eyeholes had limited his peripheral vision much more than he liked. Toph legitimately giggled now and shoved him into a chair.

Ten minutes later, Ty Lee handed him a mirror and Zuko almost dropped it in shock. Ty Lee looked indescribably pleased with herself over that reaction, and started clapping her hands while dancing around on tiptoe.

"Wow," was all he could say.

"Tell me, tell me!" begged Toph, hovering over his shoulder as if the mirror meant anything to her.

"She uh, changed the shape of my face?" Zuko tried to describe the reflection he was staring at. "With the paint, my cheekbones look flatter and my eyes look round now, like yours. She put black around them, but not all dark, like being under a tree at night, it makes them look deeper inside my face and somehow they look the same size now, too, it must be an optical illusion because I can barely tell that my burnt eye doesn't open as wide. There's some streaks the color of cooling embers that look … demonic? It's definitely fearsome. And then there's lines the color of midsummer leaves that criss-cross over the bottom part of my face, and my whole jaw looks different, more square. My own mother wouldn't recognize me."

"Wow, you can do all that with just some colors on your skin? Sighted people are so easy to fool." Zuko had to agree with Toph on that one. How else could the Avatar and two Water Tribespeople hide out in the Fire Nation for over a month, if people weren't accustomed to conveniently color-coded dress?

"Can you do me, Ty Lee?" Toph asked, excited. "I want to look like a demon that eats all the other demons for breakfast, and then spits out their bones and grinds them to dust!"

Zuko winced at the oddly specific request, and grumbled: "So, your usual face?"

Toph laughed, and Ty Lee wore a little frown, as if she was considering how exactly that would look. Not long after, Toph wore a deep brown, leather-looking bandit mask with silver and bronze highlights that accented her cheekbones, and some matching slashes of metallic paint along her arms and legs. Zuko wasn't sure it the look was into bone-grinding territory, but angry forge-spirit shouldn't be too far off the mark.

Ty Lee surveyed her handiwork, pleased, and backflipped off her excess excitement before she announced: "Looks like you're all ready to rumble!"

* * *

**A/N:** Toph, this would be a lot more light-hearted if you stopped yelling BACK at Zuko and bringing up legit issues... he means well, but sometimes he's a jerk about it and still thinks that shouting and burning things is an appropriate reaction to dignity-threatening situations.


	3. Swords vs Earthbenders

**Chapter 3: Swords vs. Earthbenders (on repeat, with angst)**

"Is my hand-waving filled with enough angst?"

Iroh, acting as Zuko's decoy in Smoke and Shadow

* * *

Round One was …. Disappointing, to put it mildly. Toph had told him that, as a new, unseeded competitor, he'd have to sweep away the rabble before he got to the decent fighters. It really had been a long time since Zuko had faced an opponent who had learned to fight on their own, and they just didn't make street fighters like they used to. He'd drawn his swords and waved them around a bit after the initial gong sounded, because Toph insisted he put on some kind of a show.

He shouldn't have bothered.

The first opponent only needed two sidesteps, a leg to trip over and a helpful push to send him careening over the edge of the ring, which was actually harder to do with a sword in each hand. The small gathering in the stands had barely reacted, since the only people who came this early in the day were the ones who couldn't afford the evening seats when the real competitors came on, and wanted an excuse to day drink.

Five opponents later, Zuko finally had to use a blade to block a flying rock. He counted that as progress.

The winners of the initial groupings were fast-tracked into another group stage, where the fights could count as a warm-up. With the dao, Zuko usually took a different approach than with bending. Evasion and defense until he came within range to strike with pinpoint accuracy spoke more of neutral jing than the brutal efficiency he was trained to with fire, but were a wiser tactical approach when an earthbender could easily muster much more overwhelming force at greater range than he could with his swords. Zuko was enjoying working in some of the flashier dao forms, which served the dual purpose of distracting his opponent and sometimes encouraging the spectators to look up from their drinks once they'd gotten over the initial novelty of seeing a non-bender in the ring.

He took his first hit in the last match of the second group, from a rock that his opponent split in midair that smashed into his shoulder blade, forcing him to pitch forward into a somersault. He didn't let her use that trick twice, and the next time he spotted the tell-tale finger twitch he slid under the attack, kicked out with a vicious twist that broke her stance, and leapt to his feet to land crouching with his sword at her throat. She yielded.

Zuko was starting to have fun by the time he reached the final group stage. The opponents he'd defeated were passing tips on to the ones he had yet to face, but some of their conquests were feeding him information as well, in the staging room where fighters rested, ate, and bandaged wounds in between fights. Some asked him questions, mostly if he had a death wish, thinking to go against earthbenders with only steel, or about where he'd learned to fight that way, and how he read an earthbending stance like a fortune teller read a palm.

They reminded him of some of the people he'd met, as a starving traveler and refugee long ago, so he answered in the taciturn way he had back then, before turning the conversation back to the other person. "The war," he answered, or "I've traveled a lot, in the Earth Kingdom", or "I train with earthbenders." Some of them didn't believe him, saying he didn't look old enough to have fought in the war, and the ones that did believe had that look about them, that they, too, carried a piece of darkness inside them that peace hadn't yet managed to wash away, and maybe never would. It was easy to tell a veteran when he saw one, and the tall, wiry man in the corner had the deep-set eyes of one who had seen too much. He had the minimal green costuming of most self-sponsored competitors, and a massive red blossom over his shoulder and upper chest that could only have come from flame. They said he went by Scar in the ring.

"You get yours in the war too, boy?" his gruff voice addressed Zuko, who had to remind himself that the man meant the one on his abdomen, not his face.

"Yes." Zuko supposed it was the technically correct answer.

"Fucking ash-makers," the man swore, and spat to the side. Zuko had heard that too many times to react to it anymore, but it still … stung. Because they'd never say it to his face if they knew who he was, but they said it to and about his countrymen all the time.

"Never seen one quite like that before," Scar commented.

"I'd never seen a firebender quite like her before," Zuko said, and hearing how true it rung still hurt. Not his obsessed-with-perfection prodigy of a little sister that day, not really. Azula and all her demons, come out in her mind to play, and he'd hated seeing her like that, with the same pain and panic in her eyes that he'd had in his own following his first Agni Kai.

"Where'd ya fight?" Scar continued, tone back to conversational, probably seeking to kill time before his next match.

Zuko dragged himself back to the present. "All over. I was never in one place for very long."

"Doesn't sound like the Earth Kingdom Army. My regiment was ordered to dig a trench and sit in it for a whole season while the officers tried to decide if the colony farmers would try and claim the next field over or not."

Zuko wasn't sure if this was meant to be a joke. Some of the listeners in had chuckled, but in a more ironic fashion than not. "I was mostly Navy," he said, just in case.

And now there were definitely a lot of chuckles and some real Sokka-level puns about Earth habits and the Navy, because apparently an Earth citizen that voluntarily went to sea was about on par with a swordsman with a penchant for challenging earthbenders, and Zuko found that logic hard to argue with.

"Well, good luck Navy, in case I see you out there later on." The ex-soldier was strapping a well-used pair of bracers over leathers that wrapped from his big, callused palms almost up to his elbows. Zuko wouldn't be at all surprised if he picked up the fierce-looking square hammers that hung on the weapons rack on his way out.

"Thanks. You too." Zuko couldn't bring himself to call the man Scar, so he asked impulsively: "What's your name?"

The man frowned at the faux paux, but there was a hint of understanding to it too, and he answered, "Call me Ming. You?"

"Call me Lee."

There were four matches in this final stage before the real elimination competition began, and in the very first one he found himself in a firebending stance by instinct, adapted it to the dao a fraction too late, and was sent flying backwards from a column of earth that punched him in the ribs. He was down but not out, in an all too familiar positon, but he kept the fire simmering under the surface of his skin this time when he rose with the swords. It would be so easy to bend through the blades, too; Zuko had frightened himself with how much more focus and finesse he could command when he'd first instinctually ignited the long steel.

Uncle had been proud and curious when Zuko first showed him; months later, at the palace, Zuko's newly-appointed firebending master had been scandalized. Zuko had fired the woman in a fit of temper. He knew it wasn't a traditional technique, but hadn't Avatar Kyoshi herself bent the elements through her fans? Zuko had a hard time believing that the practicalities of war would allow anything that could strengthen a fighter, bender or not, to be so stigmatized. But he'd spent a long time away from his nation, and had only been a mediocre bender when he'd left, so he'd never had to experience the military-strict regulations governing advanced Imperial firebending.

Small wonder he wasn't yet a master; it took two years and a personally recommended instructor from Iroh himself before Zuko finally started learning for the mastery test. And even if Zuko could wrap his limbs in ribbons of fire like a waterbender and move whirlwinds of flame through his swords, it didn't stop his generals from making the occasional pointed jab at him for being the only Fire Lord ever who wasn't also a firebending master. Zuko figured that no one else had ever had to assume the throne at sixteen, so it wasn't a fair competition; but it was a bit embarrassing that his first official portrait showed him in a student's full topknot. Even that wasn't likely to change soon, because at twenty-two and still nine advanced sets to master before he could stand the test, he knew he was likely to become the oldest out of all of Sozin's line to attain mastery and finally be allowed to grow his hair out.

It was a good thing that mastery of the sword didn't come with a visible status symbol, Zuko thought, striking away flying disks of stone. Surprise was too great an advantage in a swordsman's arsenal to give up early. Zuko caught the earthbender's heavy maul on his left blade as he closed the distance, disrupting its travel and the direction of the earth it was calling up between Zuko and his target. His right blade, dulled from its usual razor-bite to a bluntness that could smash, collided with the earth-armored forearm of his foe, intercepted en route to the collarbone. Two more swift strikes were all that Zuko could attempt before the earthbender escaped his range with a shove of the ground.

Zuko longed for his fire now, the heat in his chi begging to be set loose in the proud beauty of the attack rather than the steady _hold_ and _survey_ that grated on every soul touched by Agni. He forced himself to withdraw, took a breath to push the chi back to his chakras to wait. Zuko had been allowing the flow of chi to strengthen his strikes against the weight of stone and depth of earth, but the more he used the technique the more he felt the burn of the Sun inside him and how it longed to be free. Now wasn't the right moment, not if Zuko wanted it to mean something, and he still wasn't sure if he could bear to bend fire in front of a people still coughing in the smoke of the war started by his fathers.

So Zuko buried the flame even deeper and sprinted a sideways approach to his opponent, leaping over a crack and off a patch of earth that rose up to trip him, to fly over the man's head and land with a twist on his other side. Zuko knew he wouldn't be able to break the stance on this one, but the man was laden with twice as much muscle mass as he was so quick movements wouldn't come easily. Zuko spun, darted, and jabbed with all the memory of a twelve-year-old airbender buzzing around the training grounds like a mosquito-tick; eventually he was rewarded with his opponent's back to the edge of the ring, close enough that a feint of the swords and a flying kick sent him over the edge.

Zuko was glad that the dark puff of smoke was lost in the grey rock-dust as the earthbender's rock-armor disintegrated from the kick. Black smoke of burning houses and farmlands, bolts of fire launched with military precision - if that was all the Earth Kingdom knew of fire, how could he ever expect the world to heal?

Things were healing, slowly, conversations about families and good harvests, new factories and strange yet exciting ideas trickling in from other nations abounding more than silences heavy with loss. But Zuko knew the courage and understanding it took to face fire unflinching after a burn. The people of the Earth Kingdom were strong, but the dragons had disappeared and taken the secrets of Fire for a select few. There could be no rainbow of flame, no visions of balance and songs of harmony to instill a sense of the perfect _rightness_ of it all.

It was just him, Zuko here, with an inner flame that was begging to burn bright and free. _Not yet_, he thought. _Not yet but soon. Because no one else here can, _I_ will show them the heart of the Sun._

* * *

**A/N:** What a drama lama. Take a chill pill Zuko, I was just trying to write some cool martial arts bits here.

Speaking of which, I've wanted to do a swordfight between Sokka and Zuko for a while and lately remembered the perfect classic film duel for them to re-create. I'll polish it up for posting in the next few days, although if anyone can guess the fight I'll get on that asap. PM a guess or I'm on tumblr as d-naggeluide. As you wish.


	4. Meanwhile in the Fire-Flake Gallery

**Chapter 4: Meanwhile in the fire-flake gallery…**

Sokka won't shut up about boys, and it's back to our regularly scheduled humor

* * *

Since their arrival to the safe-distance-from-the-ringside seats half an hour ago, Sokka had seen Mai eat one-third of a bucket of fire flakes without changing expression. At first, he thought that the recent Earth Kingdom craze for the trademark spicy seaweed snack of their long-time enemies could only be explained by a much milder version than the original, but he was soon disappointed. He and Suki were sharing, and they were one-quarter of the way through when Sokka had had to make the soul-rending decision of whether to continue drinking beer, like a man at a violent sporting event, or admit defeat and go for the chocolate milk. He'd stuck with the beer, since as the only male representative in a group of women he felt it was his duty, although he had stolen a sip of Suki's milk since he needed to be able to carry on a conversation and not just pant until his tongue cooled down.

The road to the championship had begun and their friends were about to make their quarterfinals appearances. Toph had either paid someone off, or more likely intimidated someone into renewing her seeding from the last Earth Rumble she'd participated in, getting her a free entry into the quarterfinals, along with the current reigning champion, the Smashing Machine. As luck would have it (or so they said, there was no luck involved in the draw, only bribes) her quarterfinal and Earth Rumble Twelve opening match would be against the Smashing Machine. After her, Zuko would be up against a bender who'd fought his way up from a respectable tenth place seeding.

Sokka was honestly a little surprised at how far Zuko had managed to get without bending. Or maybe having a virtuoso sister had given him false expectations of what a bender ought to be capable of; he suspected Zuko could relate to him on that note. Still, if a swordsman could reach quarterfinals, Sokka was definitely going to have to consider entering next year.

Even if the swordsman in question was Zuko, who much to the chagrin of the Fire Sages trained with steel or fists as much as he trained with fire (in addition to everything else about him that pissed them off, such as his screw-you attitude towards the spirits and his won't-screw-you-even-though-the-nation-needs-a-heir-that's-not-pushing-seventy attitude towards the Fire Nation's most eligible bachelorettes). Sparring with Toph on the regular, even using bending, had to be an advantage Zuko held over Sokka here; they'd both learned that toe wiggles or a shift of weight were more dangerous than dramatic stances, but Sokka had never had much of a chance against Toph since his primary weapon was made of rock. Zuko was probably grateful that the tournament committee had outlawed metalbending, doubtless due to a healthy suspicion of the Blind Bandit's true identity, because how many blind earthbenders could there possibly be who were good enough to train the Avatar?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the quarterfinal you've all been waiting for! The former champion, victor of Earth Rumbles Five, Seven, and Eight, makes her thunderous return to the arena after four years! She's bigger and badder than ever, but she's still …. the Blind Bandit!"

Sokka was really starting to appreciate this announcer guy. The arena had gotten a serious upgrade since the fight had become legal after the war, with flashing lights reflected through crystals to dazzle the eyes as Toph rose up on a column of earth into the spotlight, fists raised over her head and flanked by three people who held up her previous championship belts.

Ty Lee clapped her hands. "Doesn't she look amazing? Gosh, I just love how the light twinkles off of those baby skulls!"

"Are those from actual babies?" Mai showed her first sign of real interest since the proceedings had begun.

"No, silly, just quartz that she earthbent." Ty Lee replied. Sokka was surprised at how much he welcomed that reassurance.

"And introducing, although he needs no introduction … your reigning Earth Rumble champion, for the second year in a row! He's lean, he's mean, and he's green, he's … the Smashing Machine!"

A second pillar made its way into the light, revealing a tall, muscular earthbender, covered in not much other than green body paint with silver highlights in the form of gears. He waved a championship belt in each hand and roared.

Spirits, now Sokka was very concerned about whatever getup Ty Lee had put Zuko in. Suki had commented earlier in the day that she'd lent a lot of makeup to the acrobat.

Katara was still stuck on Toph's outfit, which she evidently found in poor taste, and not just because of the baby skulls. "Why is Toph fighting in her _underwear_?"

Sokka knew his sister was more traditionalist in some ways than he was, but he couldn't help but point out, "Probably the same reason the Smashing Machine is fighting in his underwear? Maybe it's just an underwear kind of tournament."

Mai, he noticed, seemed almost interested at that prospect, although maybe the chili from the fire flakes had finally built up enough to cause a reaction. She was now halfway through her bucket.

Katara was still in what Sokka called her signature Southern Water Tribe Judge-y Mode, exclaiming, "It's just … she looks like she's trying to get laid tonight or something!"

"Why shouldn't she?" Suki asked. "It's a nice way to unwind after a big fight, if you're not injured."

It was Sokka's turn to flush in embarrassment, although not nearly as red as Katara. He still couldn't stop himself from returning Suki's high-five. Truth was truth.

He focused on the fight instead of his spluttering sibling, wondering if this Smashing Machine would even be a challenge for Toph. Returning champion and all, he had to have some tricks up his body-paint sleeves.

Toph struck first, a standard move of excavating rock to kick at her opponent, which Sokka rarely ever saw her do. She must be purposefully misleading her opponent while playing around. True to his name, the Smashing Machine caught every rock she sent his way on a powerful fist, smashing them to dust. Sokka saw Toph smirk and knew that she could end the match then and there if she so pleased. But she was here to perform as well as win, so she'd have to do her part to entertain before she took him down.

Toph assumed a casual stance and moved the floor of the arena in a wave next, clearly showing off. The crowd cheered. The Smashing Machine took the offensive by propelling himself into the air and cannonballing into the arena floor, sending out shockwaves of his own that re-formed the ground. Toph let herself fly off the crest of a wave and somersaulted, bringing her feet over her head trailing a long chain of rocks that crashed down as she landed, barely deflected in time by the Machine's earth shield. Sokka was sure he'd seen that move before, but with fire. Clearly Toph and Zuko were trading tips; normally Toph hated leaving sweet sweet earth.

Toph also worked to please specific members of her audience; she used dust in an imitation of Katara's octopus form, shifted the entire arena around in tribute to Kyoshi, and even threw a badly-shaped rock boomerang at some point (it didn't come back). But she got bored eventually, and the next time the Machine smashed a boulder, Toph simply re-directed the rock dust into his eyes and earth-sledded him out of the ring. The crowd roared appreciatively, and Toph let the ground carry her out with her hands raised high in victory.

As the staff earthbenders put the arena back together and tried to figure out how to shift it back to its original place, Sokka waited for his moment - when Mai had just bitten down on a new fire flake - before asking, all too casually: "Do you think Zuko and Toph are, you know… doing it?"

Much to his chagrin, there were no choking sounds, only ladylike chewing and swallowing, before a smoky voice followed a snort of disbelief. "She's not his type," Mai said, deadpan, and Sokka had to avoid pumping his fist in the air at her emotional outburst.

"Really?" he prodded. "Elite fighter who doesn't give a rat's ass about her opponents, similar hairstyles, can be very … _loud_ … at times?" Ok, so there weren't _that_ many similarities he could think of. Sokka re-directed his efforts into the most epic side-eye known to man, to get the implications of his last statement across.

Mai's expression remained unchanged, clearly extremely embarrassed about her past indiscretions involving both the Fire Lord and canvas tents.

Katara, who he had not informed about what he and Suki were up to for reasons too numerous to count, broke in and ruined all of Sokka's careful setup work. "Don't be disgusting, Sokka. She's like his little sister. Except not murderous or crazy, and with worse manners. So like an older, foul-mouthed Kiyi. Who can beat him up if she wants to."

In the ring, the gong sounded and the women turned their attention to the fight. However, Sokka wasn't ready to give up the topic and hand and took a different angle. "Yeah, but what does _she_ think of him? Remember way back on Ember Island? She was literally hanging off his arm!" And yes, he was purposefully reading too much into it, but Mai hadn't been there so if Katara could just keep her damn mouth shut for a second he might manage to blow the whole situation out of proportion.

He kept talking over his sister's protests, combined with a suggestion that he shut up about boys and let the women watch the match. "And it's not like she's bothered by his scars, since she can't even see them, and besides he's not a bad-looking guy by any stretch. Probably not a bad _feeling_ guy either, which is what really counts, am I right Mai?"

Sokka tried his best wink-wink nod-nod encouragement, but the markswoman just kept feeding herself a steady stream of fire flakes without so much as a blink. He gave it one last shot. "I mean, even though the swole gene skipped a generation, he's still pretty solid. I whacked him on the back with my sword the other day and I swear it bounced right off."

"Maybe you should date him then, I hear he's single," Mai said, maintaining complete disinterest.

Oh yeah, blown out of proportion with a barrel of blasting jelly, because that's how Sokka rolled. And looking back at his last statement, it could have been way less innuendo-y. Sokka had forgotten that same-sex couples were a common sight in the Fire Nation, and it had taken him some time to get used to, along with seeing women pretty much everywhere in the public sphere.

Anyway, he'd been hoping to use a bit of romantic jealousy to spur his plan along, and really if he was the one being set up as the competition it only gave him more control over the situation, so why not take what he was given. "Maybe I should," he agreed, turning his gaze back to the arena and trying to openly admire the play of muscles under Zuko's skin as he moved through another gravity-defying leap. It wasn't Sokka's most difficult bit of acting ever, although he still couldn't bring himself to actually leer at his friend.

Suki, who was in on the plan, still couldn't resist smacking him, although not as hard as she could have. "I'm sitting right here!"

"So, Mai, on a scale of one to ten, what do you rate him?" Sokka fell back on casual yet persistent.

"Two," Mai said, "For the two times he _broke my heart_."

Sokka was glad that Zuko wasn't there to take that sick burn to his face. He pressed on, despite the ominous warning that he was not currently succeeding in getting Zuko's ex to forget the unhappy parts of their shared history and focus on the more enjoyable present.

"Ty Lee?"

"Oh, a nine for sure!" the acrobat chirped. "Or are we talking about his personality?"

"Please don't," Mai grumbled.

"Suki?"

"I'll give him an eight," his girlfriend decided, and Sokka was a little hurt at that, even if she was upping the number in accordance with The Plan, because she'd always said _he_ was an eight.

"You should date him, then," Sokka couldn't help but grumble.

Suki snorted. "I was his bodyguard for two years, don't you think that if that ship was going to sail it would have? That guy can be a real paranoid, workaholic, angsty mess. But I guess one of the few perks of the job was that at least he's nice to look at."

Sokka wished he'd never asked. But at least there weren't too many mentions of Zuko's many personality … features … in there. "Katara?"

"I'm with Aang!" she cried instead, as if it mattered and as if they didn't all know that already.

"I'm with Sokka!" Suki said, to prove that it didn't matter.

"I'm with Azula!" Ty Lee contributed, even though NOBODY ASKED YOU, TY LEE.

The acrobat, Sokka thought, must be immune to suffocating amounts of awkwardness. In hindsight, it made perfect sense, given that she had grown up with Zuko and Azula, the two most socially incapable siblings he had ever met.

He was relieved when a gasp from the crowd turned their attention back to the ring. The earthbender had launched a large chunk of the ground high into the air, with Zuko on top of it. Just before it was redirected onto a collision course with the lower stands, Zuko leapt off, twisting sideways and dropping towards the missiles his opponent was hastily sending his way to finish him off. The firebender just didn't know when he was beat, Sokka thought in amazement, watching his friend re-arrange his feet to collide with and push off of the first boulder, roll in midair and repeat the motion with the third, then dive blades-first through the shards of the last one, which the earthbender had shattered as he saw his opponent approaching, before landing with a quick shoulder-roll to get within striking distance. Zuko's dao crossed and locked above the man's vambrance, pulling his fist to the earth, even though the man held on to his stance. Sokka saw the smirk on the man's face and knew what he was going to call from the earth before he did it, and Zuko knew too. Just as the pillar sprang up beneath the earthbender's fist and feet, Zuko freed his blades and spun into a powerful sidekick. With momentum from his own earthbending - and no doubt an incredible amount of Zuko's own chi enhancing that kick - the earthbender sailed out of the ring.

Sokka subtly felt his face to make sure his jaw was still in place, and joined his friends in cheering as Zuko flourished his swords and took a bow. It was a miracle that no one had identified him as a firebender yet. He may have waited for the right time to attack like an earthbender, but that last assault had been unbridled, win-at-all-costs aggression, a lion-hawk going for the throat.

"Fine," Katara cleared her throat, and also put her jaw back into place after that insane display. Which, Sokka would like to point out, she would never have appreciated in the first place if he hadn't been around to make everything look so much more difficult without bending. Whoops, that came out wrong. "He gets an eight from me, too. But only because of his abs."

* * *

**A/N:** I've decided to post deleted scenes on my tumblr (tag: earthrumble12 or username d-naggeluide). They're either too crack-y or too serious to have earned a place in the finished product.


	5. Swordbending takes on a new meaning

**Chapter 5: In which Swordbending takes on a whole new meaning **

* * *

Toph was having an absolute blast. The production quality of the Earth Rumble had really gone up since Xin Fu had realized that stories sold the fights and threw a lot of money at character promotion. Too bad all of her old buddies had retired, but they had actually been pretty old, so it was understandable. Although next year Toph was going to have to get the Dragon of the West to give it a go. Or maybe ten years from now, when Ba Sing Se had gotten over itself and its precious walls.

For now, she was looking forward to kicking Zuko's ass in this semifinal. She entered the ring with all her deserved pomp and circumstance, but for a guy actually used to that stuff on a daily basis, Zuko was rather unassuming when it came to making grand entrances. Toph supposed it was a good thing that the character they had proposed for him was the strong silent type. And his dramatic role would be accomplished the second flames bloomed from his fists, so he didn't even need to open his mouth, unless he planned on breathing fire.

Xin Fu had personally promised her many favors if she drew out her matches as long as possible; there was a schedule and everything they had to keep to now, and he was a cheapskate who hadn't hired any entertainers for between the rounds. He shouldn't have worried, because Toph would've gone easy on Zuko at the beginning, anyway, since he wasn't using any bending.

The gong rang and Toph decided to let her prey come to her. She splintered the ground beneath his feet as he approached, but he skipped over the cracks with ease. It was weird sensing him this way, Toph thought, well aware of the exact position of the metal in his hands. With fire she often felt the heat and heard it as it violently fed on the air, but it was never as precise as this. Small wonder he'd never even suggested facing her with the dao before; she could disarm him with a breath if she wanted, or turn the metal against him.

Toph let Zuko bash his swords into a wall of earth she raised, and obligingly gave him a boost into the air so he could have a waterbender's chance in the Si Wong desert to try and get the drop on her with his next attack. She tried her best to ignore the high harmonics the vibrating steel was broadcasting to her earthbending sense, in the interest of fairness. Sometimes, when fighting with fire, Zuko managed to surprise her from the air, but it wasn't like she could un-see his blades right now. Toph wouldn't put it past him to get sneaky at some point and put the blades down to try and get past her, but he probably wouldn't want to out her as a metalbender, so as it stood, Zuko had exactly zero chance of ever landing a hit.

Toph might have felt bad for him, but she knew her friend actually liked the odd impossible quest, and it seemed like he was having fun. So she might as well help him. Toph raised some generously-sized coin-shaped wheels out of the ground, careful to leave the holes in the center just big enough for a certain incognito Fire Lord to fit through, and started rolling or throwing them in his direction.

From the sounds of the audience, Zuko was doing a good job of dodging, riding, or diving through the obstacles. Toph rolled a succession of disk pairs into each other and advanced under the cover of the stone dust. She could feel gravity doing its work as she hopped off her noisy earth sled and ran the last few meters on quiet feet, timing her arrival for Zuko's return to earth. The instant before she struck, she cleared the dust away because apparently sighted people saw better without it (she always sensed better with it) and she wanted them to see the look on Sparky's face when she did _this_.

Toph punched up with a single rock-armored fist, meeting Zuko's heel-first descent with a crack of stone as he went flying off in another direction with a muffled curse. Toph hadn't heard any of his bones break, so she assumed he was okay outside of the uncontrolled dive he was currently taking towards the edge of the ring.

He landed with a thud and a roll, and Toph immediately pushed the advantage by sending moderately-sized projectiles his way. Zuko was fast with the dao but it was blades against bullets, and enough got through to keep him off-balance and retreating, the edge of the ring growing ever closer. Toph sent staggered waves in rings from each foot, letting them combine and cancel in a geometric dance.

Zuko lasted about thirty seconds before he fell to the ground with a grunt. Toph cracked her knuckles. Time to get this party started. She'd been told that her fights with Zuko were visually spectacular, even if Sokka said they'd be even better without all the dust, so the audience was in for a treat.

Toph had to give Zuko some credit. He was hamming this up like a proper actor, scrambling away from her on hands and ass like she'd never felt him do before, and she hoped that despite his steady breathing and heart rate that he had a terrified expression on underneath all that facepaint. Since he was giving her plenty of time, she probably ought to say something dramatic.

"What is steel to the enduring earth?" she crowed, paraphrasing something similar she'd heard from a play Zuko and his mom had dragged her to during one visit.

"That which has been refined through trials of fire," she got in response, with an artificially deep voice but very credible delivery, and knowing Zuko he'd lifted that line from the theatre too.

Toph prepared an image in her mind to convey an appropriate expression of surprise. _A fragrant, crispy pile of squid-bacon …_

She felt the metal of his dao turn white-hot for an instant, the steel preparing to shed fire.

_Surprise! Aang eats the squid-bacon! _Toph rearranged her features to reflect her reaction to the matter.

Oh. Surprise, indeed. Toph couldn't see the flame but she didn't hear it roar either, it was somehow … gentler? More alive? … And she knew without seeing that it was _beautiful_. It was a sunshine that spread around the edges of the ring, filigree flames that rushed out and formed a shape, a coiling beast rearing its head perhaps, heat gathering above her head.

It was also a completely ineffective attack, but she'd let that go and pretend to step back in shock. The crowd was completely silent. It must have looked like something out of a spirit story. A dragon, if she knew anything about Zuko's dramatic tendencies.

Toph pulled the earth around her and rose up to meet it, because drama, and damn, Sparky had really pulled that one out of nowhere, hadn't he? Although if anyone she knew would spend weeks before a fight scouring ancient scrolls and obsessively preparing to gain even a small advantage against the strongest earthbender on the planet, it would be Zuko.

The dragon roared, flame cascaded around her, and Toph threw her head back and _laughed_.

* * *

Oooooohhhh, pretty. Ty Lee especially liked the little bursts of sparks that cascaded off of the flame whorls on the dragon's back. She knew it wouldn't happen with expert control; her friends who performed fire-weaving always preferred clean lines, because too many sparks meant that the strength of bender's own desire was causing the flame to fall apart. But no one Ty Lee had ever met _wanted_ quite as hard as Zuko, or for such impossible things. Of course, this meant that he mostly failed a lot, but that was just how training went. Ty Lee had fallen in every way known to man during her circus training, and that had never stopped her from wanting to be the best high-flyer ever, seen by all the cutest boys and girls in town.

She wasn't sure what it was that Zuko wanted, this time. As enchanting as the flame-figures were, even his normal mish-mash of firebending techniques wasn't strong enough to take out Toph at her most focused. Judging from the mold-green auras of most of the audience, they weren't sure either. Some of them even had alarming streaks of bright red in them, like they were angry! Oh, right, they were all Earth Kingdom, and they'd probably never seen a Fire Festival in one of the colonies so maybe they were mad that Zuko was breaking the rules and bending fire, not earth. As if he could bend earth. Ty Lee was sure that earlier he had almost spontaneously combusted forcing himself to wait for an opening to attack. Oh, or maybe the crowd thought Zuko was going to attack them! That would make more sense. He had a bit of a history of doing that, when he was younger. They were always bringing that up on Kyoshi Island, although Ty Lee thought that was more because it was literally the only thing that had happened on that island in the past decade, besides her own immigration.

Ty Lee wished they'd all sit back and enjoy the show. That was what this was, right, a circus for less-talented people to fight and yell cheesy catch-phrases and wear amateurish costumes. There was really no need to get worked up by this kind of fire. Sure, it would be in bad taste if Zuko showed up in full armor and started punching fireballs, but a little artistic fire-weaving never hurt anyone, if only they could realize that. Oh, so maybe _that_ was what Zuko wanted to show them.

Ty Lee watched eagerly as Toph threw her head back and laughed, widened her stance, and spun, gathering earth with her like a swirl of skirts. The great, rearing dragon's head drowned in the growing mountain; Zuko disappeared in a swirl of dust, but Ty Lee could still see his aura, white-hot with determination and focus. White smoke drifted above the mountainous cone for an instant, and the lights caught on twin swords emerging like a forked tongue from the volcano's mouth. The dragon roared again and was reborn, fire bursting out in rings that brought down the mountain; Zuko stretched and re-formed the flames back into the sinuous, winged form, only slightly more abstract than last time.

Ty Lee clapped her hands together in joy; small meteors of flaming stone fell back to the ground. The circus had never allowed its firebenders to be quite so gleefully destructive, but then they hadn't had earthbenders either. The cumulative effect, she decided, was bright and explode-y and absolutely to die for.

It was a far cry from the light shows they'd played at as children. She remembered being small and hidden away under the willow-tree, Zuko telling them Lu Ten's favorite spirit-tale, about a dragonrider and his adventures. He'd shaped the flames to show them battles and quests, although he couldn't yet muster a single fireball, and kept them entranced for hours with these childish performances. Until one day Azula complained that he was doing it wrong and that she could do better, it had to be a dragon princess anyways, not a peasant messenger boy at the heart of the story. Always stubborn, Zuko had refused to yield the stage, and Azula had convinced Ty Lee to make him, so she had, and even if she was sure her chubby knuckles hadn't struck hard enough, Zuko still claimed he couldn't bend anymore and let Azula take over, and the dragon princess killed the dragonrider. There were fewer and fewer stories and no more flame-pictures after that.

Ty Lee found Mai's hand next to hers, trembling ever so slightly. She took it and they held on together, to a piece of themselves left buried for too long. In the end, they'd never run off to the circus together, like they were supposed to; herself as the acrobat, Mai as the knife thrower, Zuko as the fire-weaver, Azula the ringmaster. They'd each lost their chances of freedom, slowly but surely, until Ty Lee had been the last one left able to outrun the chains snapping behind her.

Ty Lee blinked the mist from her eyes and shared a shaky smile with Mai. It was better now, they were stronger, just like Zuko's bending. The dragon stretched nearly the length of the arena as it twined through stone forests and escaped the hungry jaws of ravines called up by the blind earthbender. A pause in the flame-beast's hunting fury allowed Toph a moment for the offensive, and she used it well, sending the firebender flying. He lost the shape, save for the twin wings mirroring the motions of his dao, but redirected his flight, ever seeking an attacking angle.

Ty Lee laughed out loud when she saw him stepping on air, small jets of flame supporting each foot for the needed instant. At least someone had been paying attention to all the Kyoshi trivia her fellow warrior Wen Di liked to bring up constantly. It didn't take long for Toph to adopt the same concept, although with paving-stone sized rocks instead of the dust and pebbles Kyoshi's group had favored, rushing to bring the airborne confrontation to a head. Her earthen whip crashed into the dao and the flames shielding the steel, just as the blade's twin let loose a grasping claw that destroyed Toph's foothold. Both competitors were forced back to the ruined ground, and the earthbender was the quickest to take advantage.

The arena tilted as Toph drew up another mountain around her, sending Zuko tumbling to its base before he could find a bracing foothold, and then it betrayed him and clamped his foot in place. Boulders orbited Toph's head like planets, like Aang in the Avatar State, and she surveyed her prey. Balanced on one knee and trapped on the sloping ground, Zuko spread his swords defiantly, summoning the great wings of flame to form one last time before sweeping them upward in a final attack.

On top of her mountain, Toph's foot twitched. Boulders flew down, and the only thing left that Zuko could do was to cross the dao and hold under dragon's wings until the avalanche scraped him from the mountainside and out of the ring.

Ty Lee closed her eyes and drew in a breath, savoring the anticipation as the noise stopped and dust settled. This was what she lived for, that silence between the performance and the response, the actor's soul laid bare for the audience to judge. And how, she wondered, would the people of the Earth Kingdom judge a firebender today?

She exhaled, opened her eyes, and the arena exploded in bright auras and applause.

* * *

**A/N:** Ty Lee, as it turns out, is not all cotton candy and unicorns. And I self-plagiarized a scenario from one of my earlier fics (c.f. 'Lights') and put it in this one because my brain at least operates on a similar level as five years ago. Good to know.

This entire chapter was written based on the mental image of Avatar-State!Toph about to bring down the mountain on Dragon-Winged!Zuko, and me being sad because a Zuko AMV set to 'Elevate' from Spiderverse does not exist.

Last chapter coming soon because I'm almost done with the one about Kuei's Life-Changing Field Trip (TM) and super excited to start sharing that one with you all!


	6. Aftershocks

**Ch 6: Aftershocks**

* * *

"I'm having flashbacks to being fifteen again," Sokka said into the electric buzz that followed Toph's exit, "where I'm scared shitless of the Fire Lord, only this time it's Zuko."

"I'm having flashbacks too, about why I ever thought I could _make_ Toph do anything," Katara added.

"How long has she been able to move literal mountains?" Suki wondered. "And why has Zuko been holding out on us with the pretty flame-work?" Sokka hoped that she was picturing how epic it could look at their wedding, with her wrapped in white fur stepping out onto the glittering ice under a flaming formation of a fan and sword echoing the lights of the aurorae … right, he should probably ask her to marry him first before making the mother of all wedding plans.

"It's called flame-weaving," Ty Lee explained. "Lots of Fire Nation circuses have performers who do it! It's not good at all for fighting though, unless the flames are super hot, so that's probably why you've never seen it before. But Zuko's always been able to do it."

Sokka smelled a story there and he definitely wanted to pursue it but a more exciting development had occurred; Mai was getting up, and she hadn't finished her fire flakes, so there had to be something else going on besides refills. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"None of your business," Mai said, and Sokka definitely did not squeal. That was completely Ty Lee, and even Suki making some high-pitched noise that he rarely ever heard, and Katara was grinning like a madwoman.

"The changing rooms are that way," Sokka pointed out helpfully, then glanced down the hallway he'd indicated, and added: "Looks like you're not the only one going after him." None of the mostly-female people he'd seen looked particularly murderous, but if Mai was heading that way the firebender was about as safe from any lynching attempt as he could possibly be.

"I'm not worried about _fangirls_," Mai said contemptuously, and marched down the hallway, pinning overenthusiastic admirers to the walls with her glare or her senbon when they didn't move out of the way fast enough.

"Oh yeah, they're gonna be making out so hard about five minutes from now," Sokka said contentedly, and gave Suki a high five. Honestly, they'd just decided to try this matchmaking stuff out of boredom, and they were already so awesome at it! He hadn't even needed to break out the poetry!

* * *

Zuko had just finished wiping the makeup off of his face when he heard the knock on the door, followed by two soft scratches. Mai.

He was away from the washbasin and had the latch half open before he wondered if he shouldn't have thrown on a robe first, but then dismissed it as impractical since he was still mostly covered in dirt and it wasn't like she hadn't seen him look worse anyway. Careful not to let his bare face be seen beyond the door, Zuko let her in.

He tried to compose his expression as he shut the door and slid the bolt home, but he knew he was probably still smiling like an idiot as he returned her greeting.

"I'd forgotten you could bend like that." Mai hated small talk almost as much as Zuko was bad at it. "Circus freak," she added, and there was real warmth in her voice.

The sappy grin was in no danger of going away soon, it seemed. "So did I," Zuko confessed. "But I wanted - I wanted to show that firebending isn't something people need to be afraid of. That the firebenders they're going to meet aren't going to be throwing fireballs at them from behind skull faceplates. Fire is life, and … I don't know if that's something you can just show, but I wanted to try. And I remembered … well, it's a lot different on a larger scale but it's the imagination that counts? Or that's what one of the firebenders from Ty Lee's former troupe said anyway, when he was showing me a few things, and I finally went through those Sun Warrior scrolls we found in the back of the catacombs too, and it's all so different from what they teach in the Royal Academy, it was weird but I figured out I'm actually pretty good at it, even if I'm probably still doing the Sun Warrior stances wrong but those forms really make a lot of _sense_ and uh… "

He'd talked too long. He'd rambled on, and he was still covered in sweat and dirt and a little bit of blood, and he probably smelled bad, and she was standing close enough to know that, and she smelled like jasmine. "… it was kind of fun, too," Zuko finished, and immediately wanted to slap himself in the face. He must sound like a complete idiot.

"It was beautiful," Mai said, voice smoky, and Zuko had to stop himself from immediately replying, _you're beautiful_. He ducked his head, wishing he'd left on the facepaint because he was sure he was blushing.

"You looked … happy, out there," she continued, and it was as if she'd been searching for the right word and was pleasantly surprised at the one she found. "Are you happy?" Mai asked.

Zuko met her gaze. "Yes, I am," he replied, and his brow creased a little but his expression wouldn't slip back into its habitual frown, which was strange because it seemed like that shouldn't be difficult, and he wasn't sure what to think about that so he just walked back to the washbasin and picked up a cloth that wasn't stained with oily makeup residue and started cleaning a gash on his forearm. And he wasn't sure he could answer her question more than that, so he went back to the first part of what she'd said and added, "I know it's silly, and it's just a glorified brawl with ridiculous costumes and even worse attempts at drama, but it was nice to do something where I felt … I could do something for me. Even if just for a few hours."

"Which, in the end, also meant doing something for your friends, and people from the Earth Kingdom that you don't even know, and the honor of the Fire Nation," Mai mused. "You really don't know what relaxation means, do you?"

"Um, tea and Pai Sho?" Zuko guessed, winding a bandage around the wound, and Mai laughed. It was a brittle sound, like glass breaking, but Zuko knew how rare it was so he treasured it anyway. She walked over to the basin and took the washcloth from him. There was a spot at the bottom of his left shoulder blade where a scab from the earlier rounds had torn off during his slide out of the arena. She pressed the cloth there gently, flicking away some small embedded debris with practiced hands.

"I used to hate that about you, when we were together," Mai continued past his attempt at a joke. "You were so focused on doing your duty as Fire Lord, restoring honor, seeking balance, that I felt … swept to the side in all that. And so were you, your own needs, and you didn't even see it. But it's different now, isn't it? You're still striving to do better, to be better, but not just as Fire Lord anymore. You're also doing it for you, because it's who you are."

Zuko contemplated her words as he relaxed under her ministrations. "I know, and I'm sorry," he confessed. "Those first few years were … Agni, I was so insecure. All I could think about was that I had no idea what I was doing, and that someone was going to find out and I'd be out on my ear again, back on a tiny boat or tossed in some hole to rot. Half of the time I even _wanted_ that. I thought I'd accepted my destiny when I faced my father on the eclipse, but then I became the one keeping myself away from it, not him, and it took me so long to figure out that I couldn't define myself by the people who'd shaped me. Ozai, Azula, Uncle, Aang, my mother, even you. I spent so much time trying to figure out how to be the Fire Lord that the world needed, I'd forgotten what it was like to be _Zuko_."

Mai had finished cleaning the wound, so he turned around to face her. Her gaze was kind, and was that a little bit of pride that she was regarding him with?

"Do you remember, now?" she asked.

"Yes," Zuko replied, without hesitation, the departing words of his mother ringing in his ears. _Never forget who you are. _

"Are you still the jerk who broke my heart?" Mai asked, sounding morbidly curious.

"No," Zuko said, voice cracking, because he hated how much of an idiot he'd been but she had to know. "Mai, I know I've said it a thousand times, but I'm sorry. The first time, I left because I'd already decided for you that you'd be better off without me. The second time, I kept things from you for the same reason; I believed that if I told you what was happening, what I was feeling, you'd see that I was unworthy, and leave. And you did, but both times, it was my fault because I didn't even trust you enough to ask you."

He wanted to reach for her, but she wasn't Toph and she wouldn't feel the strength of his heartbeat adding weight to his words, and he didn't want to disrespect their boundaries so he forced his hands to stay at his sides. "I'm your friend now, and… that's not how friendship works. That's certainly not how any relationship should work. How could I call myself your friend and not even trust you to make up your mind for yourself?"

He swallowed, and said what he'd wanted to say for a long time but didn't have the guts to. "I know we're just friends now and we have been for a while, and I know that you know that I still can't stop wanting us to be more than that. But if that's not what _you_ want … I'll stop. And I probably will fail at it for a while, but eventually I'll do it right. So I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I'm still terrified of what you might say. Mai, do you just want us to be friends? Or do you think we could be something more?"

She was searching his eyes with her own now, and he forced himself to hold her gaze, because he whatever she had to tell him, he would take it head-on and respect her decision. He owed her that much.

"I've learned a lot too, these last few years." Mai said, voice thick. "About myself. My family, my friends. Even my enemies. And I learned that back then, I was being selfish. We both were, but in different ways. I was one of the only people who didn't leave you, that first year, and you wanted me to be so many things to you that I just couldn't. And I didn't want to be like you. Someone so trapped in their duty to their nation that it was beginning to strangle them. I looked down that path to our future together, and I saw us both stuck in that same web of duty. Unhappy."

So this is it, then, Zuko thought, and hoped that the pain was just temporary. That he could look at her one day in the not-so-distant future and the pain would be gone, and she would still be his friend.

"That's how I used to think of duty, as a cage. But I've learned that it's not. You showed me that, actually. It's a choice, and an honorable, selfless one, to put your needs second to those of a greater cause. That's something I didn't understand, at sixteen. I thought it was a path that I was bound to. I didn't know that I could be the one who pointed the way instead. And I - the way I was, back then - I didn't see that, the beauty in it, the heart behind it. And that's you, _Zuko_, and that's why you're a good Fire Lord. Not the other way around."

Mai took a small step closer, and Zuko was sure she could feel his heart pounding, both from hope and her proximity. "I want to get to know that person," she said softly. "And I want him to know me better. And I'm not afraid anymore to see where things go from there."

"Mai," Zuko said, and he couldn't think of anything else, lightheaded with relief and new hope and gratitude, but he _understood_. "Can I hug you?"

In response, she wrapped her arms around him and he caught her, holding on for dear life and ignoring the part of his brain that asked him to note that she had twenty-five knives on her at the moment, that he could feel anyway, because he was safe and they were friends and they were done hurting each other and if they could build on that, they might make it together to something more.

"So, uh. Do you want to get dinner?" Zuko asked after a minute and an eternity had passed. He stepped back and saw the smudges on her fine jade-green garments, and added: "… After I wash up? Shit, I'm sorry about your clothes." Zuko knew Mai hated being dirty.

An earth-shaking cheer went up from the arena, and they each rocked a step back in surprise, as a booming voice echoed: "The Blind Bandit wins the championship!"

Zuko grinned when he heard that, and even Mai had a small smile on as she ineffectually brushed at the stains on her dress. "It's okay," she told him. "I can always borrow Toph's costume."

The only explanation for his sudden loss of balance, Zuko thought as he found himself tripping backwards over his own feet and catching himself with a hand in the washbasin, was that his brain had suddenly stopped communicating with his body. And stubbornly continued to not relay commands to his muscles as Mai let herself out with a cheeky wave and he was left standing in a puddle with wide eyes and a flushed face.

Toph was right, Zuko thought in a happy daze. This would definitely go down as the greatest Earth Rumble of all time.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this! The ending wandered more into pre-romance (or post-old-romance, pre-new-romance?) territory than I expected, but it seemed to fit since the story developed an actual theme along the way :P

A few deleted scenes are on Tumblr under the tag earthrumble12 (username d-naggeluide).

If I haven't heard from you yet, I'd love to know what you thought of this story!


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